Up...and down.

Isabelle is now pulling herself up on everything...her crib, the coffee table, the dishwasher, the mirror, me, her father and anything else she can get her chubby little hands on. Given that we give her extreme praise every time she stands up -- she has started grinning just as soon as she is standing. Once she can figure out how to clap for herself while standing, the picture will be complete. Of course, with standing, comes falling. Two nights ago she toppled down from the coffee table and nicked her chin. I suppose this is the first in many a mobile-baby injuries, but it made me so sad to see her little crying face. Luckily, she got over it in about 20 seconds and moved on to crawling after Mini. As you can see from the pictures above and below, the dishwasher makes an excellent area for practicing her standing-skills.

Food has become our small battle ground with Isabelle. Always a hearty eater she has now, for the most part, eschewed her desire for babyfood (a.k.a. organic gruel) in favor of "finger foods." She likes many pasta dishes, including ravioli and tortelini. She also likes bananas and loves berries and cheese. We have been trying to introduce cut green beans, which she seems to like, and tuna fish (she eats it but makes the "ick" face) and other healthy items.

On an unrelated note, one of my friends commented that there were no pictures of Isabelle and me. This is true. There are very few of them as I am usually the person wielding the camera. So, in the hopes of having at least a few Mom and Baby pictures - I forced Paul to take this one. Other than coloring, do you think she looks anything like me???

As you can see below, I bought Isabelle a tooth brush recently. While I have NOT been good about remembering to brush The Teeth, she has been enjoying chewing on the toothbrush. That must count for something...

Speaking of pictures...it used to be really difficult to take a picture of Isabelle at night because every time the flash would go off (or that pre-flash red eye light thingy) she would wrinkle up her little face in concentration and her adorable smile would vanish. No more. Be gone sensitive child and hello hambone! Now as soon as I take the camera out and point it at her she grins. Hmmm, wonder where she got the gene to want to be the center of attention??? Of course she also stops whatever she is doing and tries to seize and eat the camera. A small sacrifice to pay for smiling pictures of the happy baby!